Christianity: introduction and definitions

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Who is a Christian? Simple question;
many
conflicting, certain answers; no consensus.

Quotations:

"Any phenomenon as complex and as vital as Christianity is
easier to describe historically than to define logically."From
Encarta's definition of "Christianity." 1

Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car." G.K. Chesterton.

"What is a Christian, anyway? Someone of
European descent? A persecutor of Jews? Someone who votes for only the most
conservative Republicans? At times all of these answers have seemed
plausible. Some use these definitions to this day. In Christian circles the
answers are no clearer. A Christian is sometimes said to be someone who has
made a decision; sometimes, someone who belongs to a church; far too often,
someone who confesses the right creeds." Mark M. Mattison 2

Important note:

This section seems to be a bit of a lightning rod. It seems to attract Christians who
strongly disagree with what it says.

Overview:

One of the more interesting, and frustrating, features of religion is the variety of meanings
given to common words and terms. Many religious words have
multiple -- often mutually exclusive -- meanings. For example:

However, many Fundamentalist and other Evangelical
Protestants define "Christian" more narrowly to include only those
persons who have been "born again" regardless of
their denomination. That is, they have repented of their sin and trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior. About 35% of the North American adult population identify
themselves in this way.

Some Protestant Christian denominations, para-church groups, and individuals
have assembled their own lists of cardinal Christian
doctrines. Many would regard anyone who denies even one of their cardinal
doctrines to be a non-Christian. Unfortunately, there is a wide diversity of
belief concerning which historical Christian beliefs should be included in the list.

Other denominations regard their own members to be the only true Christians
in the world. Some are quite small, numbering only a few thousand followers. One Baptist denomination that is also a homophobic hate group -- the Westboro Baptist Church -- believes that their total membership of slightly under 100 believers will go to Heaven to be with God after they die; they believe that the other 7 billion humans in the world are all destined to go to Hell. 4

Different definitions on such a fundamental topic makes dialog and debate
among Christian groups very difficult. It also makes estimating the number of
Christians in the U.S. quite impossible. By some definitions, 75% of Americans
are Christians; by other definitions, it is a small fraction of 1%.

Yet, from the negative Emails that we receive on this topic, there are many
Christians out there who hold with fierce determination to their own definition
of "Christian" as the only valid one. We wrote a special essay to address their concerns

Sponsored link:

References:

We were invited to exchange links with Jesus Christ Saves Ministries (JCSM).

An essay on FreeThoughtPedia about the Westboro Baptist Church describes the Church's belief that "... the Elect may reach heaven only through the portal of The Place. ... [He] who runs The Place holds the keys to the gates of Paradise." ... Inside The Place, people were good and going to heaven."

"The Place" is Phelp's term for his church. His son Nate is quoted as saying: "'Outside The Place they were all damned and going to hell. And, if that other world ever got us down, we were taught to find strength by imagining the terrible horrors that would happen soon to everyone outside The Place'." See § 7. "Nightmare on Twelfth Street," at: http://freethoughtpedia.com/